Steak Foil Packets (Hobo Dinner)

Photo by The Food
Charlatan

Hobo packets immediately took me back to Girl Scout camp. I’m pretty sure just about every Girl Scout made these at some point—hamburger patties, potatoes, maybe a little corn, all wrapped up in foil and cooked over the fire. There was something about making your entire dinner yourself that felt pretty darn special. It was simple, but at the time it felt like we were quite the little survivalists.

Fast forward a few decades and I make my own dinner all the time. Somehow, though, the magic has worn off. So when I came across this recipe, the combination of easy and nostalgic was enough to get me in the kitchen.

The recipe calls for cooked rice but doesn't specify whether that means freshly cooked or leftover. I went with leftover rice because I almost always have some stashed in my freezer. I figured the steam and juices inside the packet would do the job of bringing the rice back to life—and they did.

For the protein, I used a NY strip because that’s what I had on hand. I added asparagus for a vegetable and layered everything together with the steak and rice.

The recipe called for cooking the packet for 60 minutes, so that’s what I did.

And, well...that was a mistake.

Over cooked asparagus (the worst) and over cooked NY strip (a sin). 

Steak Foil Packets (Hobo Dinner)

Recipe from The Food Charlatan

Serves 4

• 4 cups cooked rice
• 1 (1-oz) packet onion soup mix
• 1 pound steak, cube steak or top round steak
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk, divided
• carrots, zucchini, asparagus, bell peppers, green beans, etc. , (optional)*
• heavy duty foil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (Or see notes for camp fire or grill instructions.)

Tear off 4 large sheets of heavy duty foil, about 10-12 inches across. Regular foil will work too, just be careful not to tear it. You can double wrap if you're worried about it.

Add 1 cup of cooked rice to the center of each sheet of foil.

Top rice with about 1-2 teaspoons of onion soup mix.

Use a sharp knife to slice the steak into 12 thin strips, about 1 inch across.

Place 3 strips of steak on top of each mound of rice.

Pour 2 tablespoons of evaporated milk over the top of each mound of steak and rice.

Sprinkle the remaining onion soup mix evenly over the rest of the steak in each packet.

For each sheet of foil, bring the short ends of the foil together over the rice and steak. Press together and fold down securely over the food. For each end, fold the corners in, and then continue folding until you have a nice secure packet. See photos!

Place the 4 packets on a large baking sheet .

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and carefully open each packet, being very careful not to burn yourself with the steam.

Serve hot!